David Howard and Samuel Clay, who are both Lighting Design and Technology second year students at USW, won the Hog Factor competition at the recent PRO Performance and Venue Technology Show in Birmingham. Hog Factor is a lighting design and programming competition for HOG4 consoles run by AED Distribution, master distributor for High End Systems in the UK.
The competition is open to students who are currently enrolled in a full-time UK Entertainment technology related education course, or working at the starting level in a UK lighting rental production house.
David and Sam were one of nine teams who had to produce a lighting show to the Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars track, Uptown Funk.
David, said, "We had the brief for the competition two weeks before, so Sam and I spent about 45 hours in total, planning for our set. We also had a couple of training days with AED so we could get used to the equipment that we would be using on the day. We performed the set twice for the judges - the second time was to secure either first or second place."
Sam, added, "We are really pleased to have won, it was such an adrenaline rush. We weren't expecting it and it's only really now sinking in.
"We are looking forward to going to Belgium in December to represent the University of South Wales and the UK in the European competition. It will be a great experience and good a networking opportunity for us."
David and Sam, both 20, won an AED HedgeHog 4 console, which they will use to plan for and carry out assessments during their second and third years at university.
Stuart Green, senior lecturer in the University's Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, said, "I am delighted that David and Sam have won the competition and will progress to represent the UK in Belgium later this year. Events such as this provide students with the opportunity to test out their skills with a live brief, and demonstrate their calibre to potential future employers."
Judges for the competition included Jonathan Armstrong, who has just started as the lighting designer for the new Mika tour, and has worked with David Guetta and Basement Jaxx.
(Jim Evans)
